Is the Future Really Female? The Impact and Implications of Gender for 14-16 Year Olds' Career Choices

Abstract

The career aspirations of 14-16 year old students are analysed in terms of gender. In the literature concerning boys' apparent underperformance at GCSE level it has sometimes been argued that boys have low occupational aspirations, or that they are unaware of changes in the employment market. Such arguments are evaluated in the light of my findings concerning gender and career choice. It is shown that girls' occupational choices have become far more ambitious than was previously the case. However, boys' occupational aspirations remain high, questioning some assumptions in the literature. Yet it is maintained that the choices of both girls and boys still reflect to some extent a deeply embedded gender dichotomy, and that in this sense their choices demonstrate little recognition of changes in the adult employment market.